LED lamps have been developed to replace conventional incandescent or fluorescent lamps for reducing electrical and maintenance costs, and for increasing reliability. LED lamps consume less electrical energy than conventional lamps while exhibiting much longer lifetimes. Such LED lamps typically include a power supply and a plurality of LEDs mounted on a flat or curved surface.
In the case of LED border tubes, a few LED emitters are generally laid out on a printed circuit board (PCB). While the LED emitters provide adequate illumination on the front cover of the tube, circuitry on the PCB provides the LTL with electrical control. The PCB is typically inserted into an enclosed tube and laid on the bottom base (or back cover) of the enclosure. Most PCBs are constructed to have safe cut locations where the PCB can be cut or severed (to reduce the length of the PCB) without damaging any critical circuitry thereon. The back of the PCB, for example, could have marks made for position identification purposes.
The tube is often made of plastic materials such as Acrylonitrile Butadine Styrene (ABS), Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate (ASA), Polystyrene (PS), polycarbonate (PC) etc., wherein the tube front surface is often colored to match the desired display color of the tube. The whole tube is often non-clear, especially when the front cover surface is not a clear one, although some tubes are clear and colorless but do not provide safe cut locations on the PCB that will avoid damage of critical circuits. And although tubes are usually a one-piece enclosure, some tubes are enclosures comprising multiple pieces.
Current LTLs, however, are limited when physical modifications, such as shortening tube length, are required. This difficulty stems primarily from a lack of PCB visibility in the design of traditional LTLs (i.e., LTL designs with colored tubes and non-see-through bottoms) which makes it difficult to locate safe-cut markings on the PCB, especially when the tube light is not turned on. Shortening tube length of traditional LTLs, thus requires markings to be made on the exterior of the LTL. However, because these markings must be made manually, careful measurement is required to ensure the security of the components inside the tube when the LTL is actually severed. Accordingly, there is a need for an LTL with a clear bottom base which provides see-though capability to facilitate a safe cutting of the tube without damaging the circuits therein.